1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to digital media devices and portable packaging therefore. More specifically, but not exclusively, the invention relates to digital devices residing in a housing that is convenient for transportation and which may provide secure attachment to a desired location.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, there are many types of digital medium devices such as digital cameras, digital camcorders, MP3 players, digital storage devices and the like, which are generally designed for portability. However, these devices typically require some interface to larger devices, such as PCs, laptops or printing devices, to download or upload digital information.
For example, for conventional digital cameras, a user may take pictures until the memory is filled and then download the digital image data to a PC for viewing and/or printing. The camera may interface to a PC or other host device using for example, a universal serial bus (USB), an infrared port, a serial port, a parallel port, SCSI or RF interface. Example digital video devices of the prior art are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,325 to Steinberg et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,194 to Chida et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,441, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Portable MP3 players may also interface with host devices in a similar manner as portable digital video devices but with the primary task of primarily downloading and managing music which is stored on the MP3 player. In an MP3 player, audio data is stored in a semiconductor memory, such as flash ROM, and the entire device may be formed in a relatively small compact housing. An example dual-mode MP3 player is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,098 to Chang et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
The inherent delicate and expensive nature of these electronic devices and their portable function conflict since during transport these items are susceptible to be broken, lost or otherwise adversely impacted. Accordingly, there is a need for packaging configurations which protect the portable digital devices as much as possible and prevent their loss without substantially being detrimental to their size and transportability. Further, there is a need to increase the portability of these devices.